volcanohunter Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 The POB has performed Giselle there. So has the Bolshoi. ABT also has a history of doing story ballets in that theater, and I think it's a more suitable venue for a myriad of reasons. Link to comment
angelica Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 1 hour ago, volcanohunter said: The POB has performed Giselle there. So has the Bolshoi. ABT also has a history of doing story ballets in that theater, and I think it's a more suitable venue for a myriad of reasons. At the risk of repeating myself, I think that the Met Opera House is a terrible venue for ballet. The rings are much too deep. IMHO, every seat is a compromise. Link to comment
California Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 When I cancelled my spring NYCB tickets and asked for a refund, I got that within a couple of days. But I cancelled my ABT subscription and asked for a refund and am still waiting for that refund. Is that the experience others are having? Is the Met just really slow at these things? I'm also curious that the PNB performances at the Koch June 23-28 are not yet cancelled. Didn't the Mayor extend the prohibition on large gatherings through June 30? https://davidhkochtheater.com/events.html Link to comment
Drew Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 11 hours ago, angelica said: At the risk of repeating myself, I think that the Met Opera House is a terrible venue for ballet. The rings are much too deep. IMHO, every seat is a compromise. It bears repeating.... Link to comment
abatt Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 (edited) I have been waiting for some time for my ABT refund. I initially put in the refund request around two weeks ago, when they first announced the cancellation of the season. IN contrast, mY NYCB refund was posted to my credit card two days after I made the request. Edited April 22, 2020 by abatt Link to comment
Marta Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 2 hours ago, California said: When I cancelled my spring NYCB tickets and asked for a refund, I got that within a couple of days. But I cancelled my ABT subscription and asked for a refund and am still waiting for that refund. Is that the experience others are having? Is the Met just really slow at these things? I'm also curious that the PNB performances at the Koch June 23-28 are not yet cancelled. Didn't the Mayor extend the prohibition on large gatherings through June 30? https://davidhkochtheater.com/events.html I also got my refund from NYCB within 3 days. I don't have a subcsription to ABT, but did request refund from Met Opera and received it quickly. Link to comment
California Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 19 minutes ago, abatt said: I have been waiting for some time for my ABT refund. I initially put in the refund request around two weeks ago, when they first announced the cancellation of the season. IN contrast, mY NYCB refund was posted to my credit card two days after I made the request. Sounds like ABT is slow for everyone, and it's not just me. I'll have to be patient for this one, I guess! Link to comment
nycvillager Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 Same here...received by NYCB refund quickly and nothing from ABT after nearly 2 weeks. The email said it could take 30 days. I was not planning to request a refund from NYCB but as closures have extended, I changed my mind due to more uncertainty. Once things are running again, I'm happy to use it for tickets again though. For ABT, it was just too much to wait over a year for since there's no way I could use all my ticket credits for a short fall season if that even happens. I really would love to see some full lengths from ABT online though because I do miss them. When NYCB is on, I'm totally engrossed and in love with the neoclassical and vice versa when ABT is on with classics. Without some real content from ABT, I'm really favoring NYCB right now and if I do make a donation, will likely be to them. Link to comment
abatt Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 In fairness, these refunds for ABT are being processed by the Met Opera, not by ABT. I'm sure the Met Opera is giving priority to refunding opera tickets. Additionally, the Met Opera is processing subscription ticket purchases for next season at the opera (if there is one!). I've noticed a little game being played by some other organizations, which is that even though the performance is cancelled, they don't process the refund until the performance date so that they can continue to earn interest income. As an example, I have an Encores subscription at City Center. They already announced that performances in May of Encores are cancelled. However, they will not process the refunds for the May performances until the actual performance date (May 6). Sleazy, in my opinion. Link to comment
canbelto Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 I hope ABT offers some free streaming during their canceled season much the way NYCB is doing. Link to comment
California Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 A charming profile of Irina Kolpakova, sent out by ABT yesterday: https://www.thirteen.org/programs/nyc-arts/nyc-arts-full-episode-may-31-2018-yr0pjc/ Link to comment
nysusan Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 I received a refund for my ABT subscription today. I also ordered single tickets and that money has not been refunded yet so I guess they are issuing refunds in stages. Link to comment
abatt Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 My refund was posted to my credit card account today. Link to comment
angelica Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 31 minutes ago, abatt said: My refund was posted to my credit card account today. Mine too. Link to comment
California Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 46 minutes ago, abatt said: My refund was posted to my credit card account today. Perhaps they're going in alphabetical order or perhaps starting on the east coast and moving west? Mine hasn't arrived as of two minutes ago. Link to comment
NinaFan Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 On 4/30/2020 at 12:10 PM, nysusan said: I received a refund for my ABT subscription today. I also ordered single tickets and that money has not been refunded yet so I guess they are issuing refunds in stages. The total refund for subscriptions and single tickets were posted to my credit card yesterday. If you haven't received it yet, you may want to contact the MET. Link to comment
Longtimelurker Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 21 hours ago, Leah said: Just got an email for whatever this is: Misty Copeland and Calvin Royal III. Photo: Ruth Hogben. American Ballet Theatre: Together Tonight Tuesday, May 12 at 7:00pm EDT American Ballet Theatre is excited to present American Ballet Theatre: Together Tonight – a virtual celebration in support of the ABT Crisis Relief Fund on ABT’s YouTube Channel on May 12 at 7:00pm EDT! Join America’s National Ballet Company® from the comfort of your home for a festive evening of dancing and camaraderie as we recognize the incredible milestones made during ABT’s first eight decades and look forward to our bright future. Exciting cameos from some of your favorite dancers and celebrities, as well as one-of-a-kind experiences and items available for auction will be announced soon. Check back here for the most-up-to-date information! I received this too and was confused as to what it is as well. I really hope that they start streaming some of their performances soon. Link to comment
nanushka Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 3 minutes ago, Longtimelurker said: I received this too and was confused as to what it is as well. I really hope that they start streaming some of their performances soon. I'm not holding my breath, based on the description. I predict the showing of some clips that are already readily available and lots of fund-raising filler (those "exciting cameos," for instance). But we shall see. Link to comment
Drew Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Longtimelurker said: I received this too and was confused as to what it is as well. I really hope that they start streaming some of their performances soon. It would be lovely to see streamed ABT performances. I suspect they would very much like to offer some, and if they aren't it's because they can't -- possibly they don't have much to stream and are wary of streaming rehearsal footage...or, say, material from decades ago that, in many cases, is available on youtube anyway and often not of the highest video quality. Edited May 2, 2020 by Drew Link to comment
nanushka Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Drew said: It would be lovely to see streamed ABT performances. I suspect they would very much like to offer some, and if they aren't it's because they can't -- possibly they don't have much to stream and are wary of streaming rehearsal footage...or, say, material from decades ago that, in many cases, is available on youtube anyway and often not of the highest video quality. Many of the videos on YouTube are VHS transfers. Surely they could (technologically, at least) stream better quality versions of some of the older non-DVD material. But they won't, I think. Edited May 3, 2020 by nanushka Link to comment
Drew Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 7 minutes ago, nanushka said: Many of the videos on YouTube are VHS transfers. Surely they could (technologically, at least) stream better quality versions of some of the older non-DVD material. It still wouldn't look like the high quality streams being put out by other top companies, and I think that's a problem for them in terms of the image it conveys etc. I feel for ABT--over the years they have done such wonderful things with substantially fewer resources than NYCB and I worry about whether they can make it through the storm.... Link to comment
nanushka Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Drew said: It still wouldn't look like the high quality streams being put out by other top companies, and I think that's a problem for them in terms of the image it conveys etc. I feel for ABT--over the years they have done such wonderful things with substantially fewer resources than NYCB and I worry about whether they can make it through the storm.... I don’t think it would be a problem at all if they were to bill it as a new release of historical material, featuring great dancers from their past. I really can’t imagine that would be the reason they don’t. Even audiences used to HD today bring very different expectations to videos from the past. They need to come to grips with modern technological realities. (And I don’t just mean in terms of recording performances.) They’ve been behind on this for decades now. It’s really not a surprise they’re flailing now. They’ve had no visionary leadership for far too long. Edited May 3, 2020 by nanushka Link to comment
cobweb Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Somehow the description of "ABT: Together Tonight" doesn't appeal to me either. It sounds like it will be a lot of puffy short pieces and probably speeches (no thanks). Also the tone of it sounds out of touch, is this really a time to celebrate ABT's history and look forward to a bright future? I think it would be better to frame it honestly as a response to the current situation, with an entire season and many performances cancelled, Stella's farewell missed, etc, and maybe working in references to ABT's history and future but grounding it in the current reality. Just MHO. Link to comment
Drew Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, nanushka said: I don’t think it would be a problem at all if they were to bill it as a new release of historical material, featuring great dancers from their past. I really can’t imagine that would be the reason they don’t. Even audiences used to HD today bring very different expectations to videos from the past. They need to come to grips with modern technological realities. (And I don’t just mean in terms of recording performances.) They’ve been behind on this for decades now. It’s really not a surprise they’re flailing now. They’ve had no visionary leadership for far too long. Do they have --or have they had- access to anything comparable to NYCB's media suite when they dance at the Met? (I had been assuming not...) Re ABT's leadership. I have always thought that hiring Ratmansky, at any rate, and giving him support for a wide variety of projects was an example of serious artistic leadership and has kept ABT 'relevant' to the ballet world at large. Edited May 3, 2020 by Drew Link to comment
volcanohunter Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 18 minutes ago, Drew said: Re ABT's leadership. I have always thought that hiring Ratmansky, at any rate, and giving him support for a wide variety of projects was an example of serious artistic leadership and has kept ABT 'relevant' to the ballet world at large. Perhaps relevant among critics and "ballet nerds" (among whom I count myself), but we have to be honest and admit that most of Ratmansky's projects peter out quickly at the box office, and not only at ABT. I think of how unceremoniously his Paquita was dumped when leadership changed at the Bavarian State Ballet, or how La Scala, which co-produced his Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, pretty quickly reverted to Nureyev's productions of those ballets. (And Manuel Legris' arrival will only cement their presence.) Ratmansky seems to produce hits consistently only for City Ballet, which is no help to ABT. Link to comment
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